Veggie Mama lures investors on 'Shark Tank'

Theresa Fraijo of Laguna Niguel recently appeared on the TV show Shark Tank with her husband Robert, trying to get the panel of millionares to invest in her company, VeggieMama. She makes healthy frozen pops. The sharks bit, giving her a $75,000 investment for 20 percent of the company profits.MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

How do you get fussy kids to eat vegetables without the mealtime hassle?

One way: Mask the greens with naturally sweet and brightly colored fruits – and freeze the mixture into popsicles.

That's the concept behind Veggie Mama, a small business in Laguna Niguel run by Theresa Fraijo and her husband, Robert. On Friday night, the couple pitched their line of healthful frozen treats to a pool of mercilessly critical investors on ABC's “Shark Tank.” After an hour of grilling and negotiation, the Fraijos came away with $75,000 in funding in exchange for a 20 percent stake in their growing company.

Before appearing on the show, the Fraijos already sold their frozen treats at 160-plus Sprouts locations nationwide and four Whole Foods stores in Orange County. The business owners are used to pitching to buyers at natural-food chains, which became ideal practice for their debut on national television.

“It was definitely nerve-wracking,” said Theresa Fraijo, 29. “It's the real deal. You're really pitching to ‘sharks.' But we had really done our homework. We knew every shark, what they were into and what we were willing to give up.”

On Friday night's show, Fraijo, the mama in Veggie Mama, told the Sharks she got into the habit of blending vegetables with fruits to make smoothies to appease her husband, who'd often say, “I'd rather drink my vegetables than eat them.”

That trick worked so well that she later used it on her two sons, Vance, 8, and Maximilian, 2, who also are picky eaters. Fraijo would experiment with mixing certain fruits and vegetables to yield brighter colors, which tend to appeal to kids. For taste, she added agave nectar, a natural sweetener.

She evolved her smoothies into Garden Pops when she was trying to save time. She made huge batches of her mixes and froze them into strips.

Fraijo took her pops to Boy Scout meetings and other social gatherings and found that other kids liked them, too. Soon, Veggie Mama caught the attention of mom bloggers as well as retailers at a trade show.

To launch the business, which officially incorporated in April 2012, Fraijo's husband quit law school and the couple invested $140,000 into the operation. Fraijo sold the diamond from her ring to help fund the business, and her 29-year-old husband took a full-time job since leaving law school.

Within the past year, the small home operation has moved to commercial kitchen space in Upland in San Bernardino County and works with major health-food chains like Whole Foods and Sprouts.

The frozen treats also captured the attention of “Shark Tank” investors, who sparked a bidding war.

With two competing offers already on the table, fellow “sharks” Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran swooped in at the last minute to offer $75,000 in exchange for a 20 percent stake in the company.

With the new funding, the couple aim to ramp up production of Garden Pops, which come in three flavors – carrot berry, citrus cucumber and sweet potato pie. They also want to continue persuading more retailers to carry their frozen treats and gain access to their distributors.

What's one secret behind Veggie Mama's growth?

Ask for help. At the start, Fraijo walked into stores she liked and asked to talk to the people who could help get her products on their shelves. She also asked for advice from vendors who were doing in-store demonstrations.

Theresa Fraijo of Laguna Niguel recently appeared on the TV show Shark Tank with her husband Robert, trying to get the panel of millionares to invest in her company, VeggieMama. She makes healthy frozen pops. The sharks bit, giving her a $75,000 investment for 20 percent of the company profits. MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Veggie Mama Garden Pops come in three varieties: carrot berry, citrus cucumber and sweet potato pie and are available at certain health food stores including Sprouts and Whole Foods. MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Theresa Fraijo, co-founder of healthfood company Veggie Mama, is the latest Orange County contestant of Shark Tank to get a deal with the sharks. MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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